The
magic of live music is indescribable. The marriage between the audience and the band can make
for a great experience. Who can ever forget Freddy Mercury and the crowds at
the Live Aid all those years ago or for that matter Jimi Hendrix. Individuals,
who without a doubt took the arc of music in a different direction by the force
of their personality. Their reputations were burnished by performing live. That
platform creates reputations and helps develop musicians. It is a bit of an
anachronism in state like Goa which is buzzing with talent that musicians don’t
have a platform to perform live. Yes, there are weddings and restaurants where
bands perform. Some on long assignments and others on one offs. And yes, many
of them sing covers unlike other parts of the country where it is not unusual
for audience to voice their discontent immediately if the band intends to sing
another number from DEEP Purple. Now something new is coming along that could
change it all.
The ‘Music Cafe’ concept is conceptualized
with the main aim of promoting independent music amongst the Goan audience. The
concept stresses on promoting original music and providing a platform for
musicians across the state and country to tap their creativity in composing and
producing own content. The organizers plan to produce a gig every fortnight for
the next 6 months initially targeting footfalls of 150 to 180 pax and over the
course increase capacities to cater to larger audiences. The first gig is
scheduled on Saturday, November 4 with Kochi based ‘When Chai Met Toast’
(performing in Goa for the first time) and Goa based ‘Electric Pulse’, two of
the top bands in the independent music scene at Bay 15.
The promoters behind this interesting idea, Arvin Vaz and
Clarence Henriques were inspired during the course of their travels in the
country and attending several music shows. Clarence said “I used to live in
Pune and started attending all these shows at the NH7 weekend. I was exposed to
different bands in different genres all singing originals. It was excellent, it
was an eye opener and over a period of time I came around to the thought that
perhaps something ought to be done in Goa along similar lines consistently”.
The duo set up Jack of Events, an event management company and started off by
organising stand up comedy shows featuring local and national stand up artists.
Gaining experience and a reputation for good work, the duo decided to approach
local outlets keen on trying something new to entertain their guests.
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The gig on Saturday is meant for around 200 guests and through
The Music Café, the organisers hope it will encourage Goan artists to perform
original material. Clarence said “This is a problem that is faced by artists
everywhere. In Mumbai, musicians can go their way and sing originals in live
shows and survive or move over to Bollywood and make a pretty packet. Space has
to be given to artists to be allowed to blossom”.
The Music cafe will be held twice a month and the organisers
intend to expand it over a period of time. On the 2nd of December, they will
feature rock and metals bands with two bands from Bengaluru and one from Goa,
Within Ceres who were the finalists at Mood Indigo.
The organisers are determined to help create scene which will
make bands compose original compositions perform live.
Clarence said “We are keen on curating new musical experiences
for the public in Goa. We talk to restaurants managers and outlet owners. Some
listen to us others no. For some outlets something like this is very new and it
sometimes increases their walk-ins by 70 to 80%”. They intend to organise a
show featuring six to seven bands singing original songs for an audience not
exceeding 600. The challenge the duo said was trying to make the average
audience to break their routine weekend schedule of going over to a restaurant
featuring a DJ. They hope to eventually record the Goan artists and post it
online to help them gain a wider audience. Clarence hoped in three to four
years there would be a Goan band that would make it big in India and then
internationally. With the Goan market being saturated by electronic music, the
duo felt the time was right for something new.
Saturday
could be the start of some interesting times for Goan musicians.
